In The Dark
by Reonyea
Summary: A conspiracy lands two CSIs in a strange situation. My first fic of any kind, so go easy on me…do R&R though! Oh yes, tis GSR with a touch of WC that may get more obvious later. Chapter 4 now up after a veeery long interlude!
1. Tumble

In the hot brightness of the Nevada desert, two figures slaved away with shovels, adjusting the level of the land around a square hole in the ground. One was tall, dark haired and handsome; the other was a woman, blonde and tough.

"Think this'll do?" the man asked, leaning on his spade and wiping the back of his hand against his head. The blonde examined the area carefully, almost professionally, then nodded.

"It had better." She began to laugh as they walked back towards their Tahoe, and, sides shaking, stumbled on the uneven ground. Her accomplice caught her before she fell, and the laughter died in her throat as she looked into his eyes.

It was he that turned away after a long moment, setting her back firmly on her feet, mumbling "We have to get back to work." She nodded and walked back to the car, her head slightly bowed.

The body hung from a tree and swung slightly in the evening breeze. Sara Sidle stood watching it, a baffled look on her face as she wandered were the cops were. It was just plain unnatural for a CSI to be the first and only person at a scene. The crime scene was well away from the road, and she wasn't going to approach it alone. She jumped slightly as another car pulled up behind her, and squinted through the windshield to see the drive. She gulped to hide her surprise, and fought to appear casual as her supervisor climbed out of his vehicle, kit in hand. He looked at her then at the distant corpse hanging from the tree, and narrowed his eyes. "Where's Brass?"

She shook her head. "Haven't seem him. Or anybody else for that matter."

He stared at her. "Did they clear the scene?"

"Cath said they did before I got here." She studied him as he studied the decedent, his brow furrowed over intense blue eyes. He wore shades pushed on top of his greying brown hair and...he'd caught her staring. She covered herself. "Grissom, are we going to stand here all day or what?"

"Or what," he replied with a grin. He began striding across the intervening ground between the road and the crime scene, to be quickly overtaken by Sara. She looked ahead, something catching her attention, and she stopped suddenly, causing Grissom to plough into her. She reached out a hand to steady him and pointed to the body.

"Does that look..." She stopped, frowning.  
He looked at her oddly. "Does that look...what?" he prompted.  
"Real. Does it look real to you?" He focussed his eyes once more on the corpse.

"It does look strange. Let's get a closer look." They set off again and Sara san to talk to Grissom while still walking backwards.

"So What are you doing here anyway? Cath said I'd be working so-"Her words trailed off into a panicked screech as the ground vanished from under her feet. Her arms failed wildly until she grabbed hold of Grissom for balance, only succeeding in pulling him down with her.


	2. Weird

**Note:** Sorry, am later to update it than I thought I'd be, went away for a few days. Thanks for your reviews!

They only fell for a second, before something surprisingly soft broke their fall. Grissom caught his breath before turning to Sara. "Are you alright?" She hazarded.

"I think you elbowed me in the head?" He dived for his kit and pulled out a flashlight, shining it into her face to answer the question in her voice. She blinked rapidly.

"Christ, Griss!" She was silenced by him reaching out to touch her face, wiping away a small trickle of blood. Their eyes met; hers guarded, his concerned. He gave a smile sheepish smile.

"Really got you, didn't I?" He wasn't moving his hand from her face. It seemed to radiate warmth, and Sara stared at him openly for a minute, her mouth slightly open, before she sighed. This could never go anywhere because of his age, their jobs, the whole fascination with bugs...she moved away and began to systematically examine their surroundings.

Their fall had been broken by a mattress which covered the entire floor. The pit looked to be about ten feet deep, and its walls were lined with some kind of metal that turned out to have been greased with what smelt like Vaseline. In one corner was a picnic basket. Sara pulled this out into the middle, in between herself and Grissom. She opened it as he shone the flashlight, and unloaded the contents. First she pulled a load of food, mostly cookies and fruit. Next came four bottles of water and two bottles of what turned out to be a pleasant vintage of red wine, which was studied with interest before the two CSIs moved on to the next 'evidence'. One blanket. An extra flashlight. A packet of condoms.

Sara turned bright red and Grissom choked.

"So...um..."  
"This is weird."

Grissom nodded in agreement and reached for a bottle of wine. "Want some?" She nodded, reached into the basket and produced two glasses and a corkscrew.

"Wow. This really is weird." He smiled at her; a beautiful Grissom smile that made her breath catch in her throat. She smiled back, unable to resist, and he passed her a glass of wine. Their fingers touched for an electrifying moment which was broken by her taking a sip of her wine and choking on it. Her already red face turned redder with embarrassment, as he reached round to gently slap her on the back. As her coughs died down, he brought his hand round to wipe a little wine from the edge of her mouth. They froze for a second once more, and Sara felt as if she were under a spell as he reached over and gently kissed her. Giving in, she kissed him back, and both wobbled up onto their knees to lean into it.

It was a long time before they broke apart, breathing heavily. Grissom's eyes lit up with realisation. "Catherine!" he gasped.


	3. Victim, Suspect, Crime Scene

Note: ok, you can thank my inability to read the front of buses for this part getting done at all. Meant to get the shuttlebus from one university campus to another, got on the wrong bus, ended up in a town I'd never heard of and sat down by a lake to write...thanks again for your reviews!

Sheriff Mobley had decided that each of the CSI graveyard shift would have a turn at running the team for the duration of one week. He figured it would give them each a chance to demonstrate their leadership skills, showing him who would be the most suitable replacement for Grissom, should he ever leave. They were given one week's warning, and then Nick had been unleashed on the unsuspecting underworld of Vegas. Though a little hectic, his turn had suffered no major disasters, though he was very relieved to hand over the reins to an eager, scheming, Catherine, who had practically danced around the lab crying 'Whoop-de-doo!' She was currently three days into her shift and absolutely _everything _had been properly organised. The team were even beginning to miss Grissom's comforting absent-mindedness.

"What do you mean 'Grissom's on vacation'?! Grissom never takes vacation!" Nick was bewildered. Sara, apparently, had called in sick. This seemed even more unlikely to him than Grissom taking a vacation. He glanced at Greg, who seemed as surprised as himself, then at Warrick who seemed so calmly accepting that Nick had to do a double take. He frowned suspiciously at Catherine, taking in the amused expression in her eyes and they way her mouth was twitching as if it wanted to laugh and was being forcibly restrained. She also stood unnecessarily close to Warrick, so that their sides touched. Nick smiled at this. It gave him the connection he needed.

He folded his arms and showed them his best Clever Criminalist face. "Ok. What have you done with them?"

Catherine and Warrick replied at once. "Who?"

Nicky sighed. It was gonna be a tough interrogation.

Sara glared at Grissom. He gulped as he realised the verbal realisation had come at just the wrong time. "Sara, I meant..." he trailed of in the face of her icy stare.

"Jeez...I just...can't believe you did that. You called me her name. I always _knew_ there was something between the two of you!" She turned away, staring into the corner, trying to control herself as she shook with fury. There was a brief silence before he spoke.

"I didn't! And there isn't!" She threw a look at him so angry that he turned off the flashlight so he wouldn't have to face it again. "I only said Catherine's name because I realised why we're here. It's because of her!"

She spun round, her eyes lighting up as she realised what he meant. "Of course!

"Ok," said Nick wearily. "I'm going to tell what I think went down here. Cath, when you realised you were gonna be boss for a week, you immediately saw the change to settle something that had been bugging (no pun intended) you for a long time; the matter of Grissom and Sara. Since it was in your power to send them places, I bet you send them both someplace and then got Warrick to help you trap them.

I have two of the bases covered: victim, suspect....now all I'm lacking is a crime scene." He looked hopefully at his colleagues, who looked at each other. They then simultaneously imitated zipping their mouths shut, childish grins on their faces. Nick groaned.

"Do you think she did it by herself?" Sara asked, gesturing towards their surroundings. Grissom looked around with fresh eyes.

"No. Cath's a small woman, for all she's tough as nails. She'd need help. And not from little Greggo either."

"Nicky's too guileless," said Sara thoughtfully. "So that just leaves us with..."

"Warrick." He nodded his head. She grinned.

"Victim, suspect, crime scene. We solved the case. So, boss, now we can go home." She frowned. "'Cept we can't.


	4. Passing Time

**Note: **Gosh, doesn't time fly when you're forgetting to write?It's been over a year since I added anything to this story, and I assumed that when I went back and looked at it, I'd hate it and criticise my own writing style, but I actually rather enjoyed it, so I don't have to rewrite it! I shall, however, try and carry on and hope I haven't forgotten how to write. Thank you to those people who commented…13 months ago!

Disclaimer: I own nothing and nobody but I'll borrow characters and make them dance to my own tune. I'll give them back afterwards though.

III

Once Nick had established that Catherine and Warrick were not going to confess, Catherine had resumed control of the night shift with her normal degree of vigour. It was a quiet night; Greg and Nick were out on an assault at the Bellagio while Warrick and the temporary boss had taken a B&E at a jewellery store.

"What do you reckon they're doing?" Warrick handed Catherine a bindle as she spoke. Focussed on the scene, the woman gave him a blank look for a moment as she dropped a piece of broken glass into the plastic bag.

"Who?" Warrick rolled his eyes at her and she blushed. "Oh." She crouched down to examine a crack in the floor, photographed it and used tweezers to work something free of the wood, holding it up to the light. Warrick joined her. "I should imagine they're either yellin' at each other, staring at each other in silence, or…" she smirked and Warrick widened his eyes at the implication. She waved the tweezers. "What do you make of this?"

III

"I packed my bag and in it I put…a sponge, some pants, gum, a gun, handcuffs, luminol, non-oxinol 9, soap, a toothbrush, a wallet, Forensics Monthly, racing roaches aaaand…a bottle of wine." Sara raised the empty bottle at Grissom and smirked before placing it carefully back in the basket. They sat facing each other at opposite ends of the hole, facing each other and giggling a lot more than usual. Sara was delighted; she'd never imagined Grissom to be the type that giggled when tipsy, and she found it adorable.

"I packed my bag and in it I put a sponge, some pants, a gun, some gum – "

"HA! I win!" Sara cut him off. Grissom looked baffled.

"What did I do wrong?"

"You got your gum and gun round the wrong way," she smirked again. "Not something you'd want to do at a scene… 'LVPD! Turn around and put your hands up or I'll spit gum on your shoes!'" Both normally serious criminalists dissolved into a fit of unseemly giggles, sliding down the wall onto the mattress. Gradually they joined hands and pulled each other back into a sitting position, coming face to face. Grissom reached up and brushed a strand of hair from her face, his expression suddenly serious.

"I'm sorry…" Sad blue eyes stared into deep browns, and Sara reached up to cover his hand with her own as it cupped her cheek. "I've been…terrible to you lately." She nodded slightly, but her eyes questioned him. "I don't even know why! There was Hank, I guess, and…" Sara jerked away from him

"Hank was nothing! He was always nothing! You just…_assumed_! I even told you otherwise and you didn't believe me!" Her head dropped and she picked at the mattress. "Grissom…how can we ever be…anything, if you don't trust me?"

Grissom swallowed and sat back. He hadn't meant to hurt her, and he trusted her more than anybody he had ever known, except possibly his mother. Pondering this for a moment, he decided it would probably do both of them more good if he vocalised that. "Sara…my father walked out on my mother and me when I was five." Her head shot up and she squinted at him suspiciously in the candlelight. "At that age, you trust your parents absolutely, and to have one of them leave and never want to see you again is one of the worst betrayals you can suffer. Since then, other than my mother I never trusted anyone." A tear slipped down her cheek, and he shuffled clumsily forward to brush it away. "Until I met you."

III

"Well, that was easy." Greg climbed into the Tahoe and slammed the door as Nick got in the driver's side. "Why did they even bother calling us out?" Their assault case and been so cut and dried that there had been no need to actually do any work, and after half an hour at the Bellagio they were on their way back to the lab.

"Procedure I guess," the senior CSI sighed as he fastened his seatbelt. "The county expects that every CSI shall do his duty…"

"Or her," amended Greg seriously.

"Or her," Nick agreed. He put the car into gear and they drove off slowly. It really was a quiet night; not only was there a suspicious lack of crimes being reported but the streets were nearly empty. Nick half expected a gang of criminals to pop up from behind a fire hydrant yelling "Surprise!" and attempt to take himself and the younger CSI captive. He dismissed that thought with a wry grin and a shake of the head, and chose to ponder the bizarre disappearance of his two colleagues. "Hey, Greggo? Mind if we swing by Sara's on the way back to the lab, check I'm not making an ass of myelf?


End file.
